Looking back on a burning ember
by goldengreaser
Summary: It has been twenty two years since the Windrexvill fire but Barbara has never forgotten the hero who saved her from the inferno.


**One shot**

**Disclaimer I do not own **_**The Outsiders**_

Thirty year old Barbara dusted off her old childhood treasure box and slipped off the lid. Inside were the usual things that could be found in a child's wonder filled world. Her jacks, an old doll, some cute dresses for her Chatty Cathy. There were a couple of school papers, pictures of friends. But one thing stood apart.

Barbara pulled out a shoe box. Inside of it lay an essay and a few newspaper articles. She fingered them lovingly. She smiled sadly.

**Juvenile Delinquents Turned Hero**

_**Early this week the body of eighteen year old Robert L Sheldon was found in Blue Ribbon Park. His murderer was determined to be Jonathan Anthony Cade, age sixteen, who had been on the run this past week. Jonathan Cade was said to have been accompanied by missing fourteen year old Ponyboy Curtis. **_

_** In a strange turn of events an old Church in Windrexvill Country was said to have caught fire while some first graders from the local elementary school were picnicking. Eight first graders were trapped inside. **_

_** Cade and Curtis showed up in a red convertible driven by known delinquent seventeen year old Dallas Winston. The younger boys ran to the church and were able to rescue all of the children with the later aid of Winston.**_

_** While Curtis was able to escape the burning embers Cade became entrapped within the blaze. Dallas Winston is said to have ran into the inferno pulling out the boy by the time the firemen arrived on the scene.**_

_** Curtis retained minor burns and was released to the custody of older brother Darrel Curtis (for more on that turn to page E-7)**_

_** Winston suffered third degree burns on his right arms but is expected to make a full recovery. Cade however has been left in critical condition. **_

_** He suffered third and second degree burns over sixty-five percent of his body, suffers from major smoke inhalation and his broken his back. The later is said to have occurred at the church's collapsing.**_

_** If Cade lives he is to be charged with manslaughter as it seems the murder was in self defense……. (continued on page E-1)**_

Barbara sighed. If, if he lived. He didn't live and she still felt the guilt of it after all these years. She picked up one of the obituaries.

**Jonathan "Johnny" Anthony Cade**

**March 1****st**** 1950- September 8****th**** 1966**

**Johnny Cade was born to Claude and Deborah Cade at Tulsa Memorial Hospital.**

**Johnny died Saturday evening after succumbing to multiple injuries**

**from his heroing rescue of Windrexvill Elementary students when**

**an abandoned church the children were visiting caught fire.**

**Johnny had been recently charged with the manslaughter of a Robert Sheldon**

**during an altercation at Blue Ribbon park. Although evidence now suggests**

**the act was an act of self defense. **

**Johnny Cade will forever remain a hero in the hearts and minds**

**of the families of the children he saved. Memorial services will be held at St Catharine's Catholic Church. Johnny is survived by parents Claude and Deborah Cade and Grandfather Albert Lorenzo. **

Her parents had gone to the hospital to see him. They told her about it when she was older. He was a kind boy, did not regret his choice. To them he was a hero but to Barbara he was a saint. For who but a saint could be so brave and die without regret?

Barbara put the articles back in the shoebox and returned them to her treasure chest. She sighed. Even after all these years she could not get over his death. In many ways she felt responsible. It had been herself and Rodney Jackson who found the matches, had lit them. Even more than twenty years later she could not forgive herself.

She'd spent years in the guidance counselor's office, then in therapy for it. At night she had nightmares. She heard a boy's voice screaming, she felt the flames. Even when she was awake she could not be around fie. Grills, bonfires even fireplaces or smoking gave her the chills. Flashbacks would come and she would begin to sob and shake.

Some nights her thoughts went to the other boy, the lone survivor. She'd learned that Dallas Winston had been shot in an altercation with the police but that Ponyboy Curtis was still alive. She'd met him when she was eleven.

The town had gotten together a scholarship in honor of Johnny Cade. He had been the first recipient. They had also planted a tree in his and Dallas's honor. She still visited from time to time.

Ponyboy, he had been a nice guy. He was sort of sad, she could tell. He was kind to her and the other survivors, not angry. But she could tell, he still mourned for his friend.

He'd become a writer. She had all of his books, reading them because his best friend could not. She's seen him again seven years ago, at a signing. They went for coffee afterwards. She learned more about Johnny. The fact that his life had been so hard made her even sadder. Johnny Cade had never gotten the chance to truly live.

"Mommy!" Barbara sighed. Her son was calling her. She looked back at the box one more time and walked down the stairs. A little boy with auburn hair and green eyes launched himself out her. She picked him up and held him tight.

"Hey Johnny." She kissed him on the cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too mommy." Johnny Cade had died but if he had not sacrificed himself her little Johnny might never have been born. She could not be anymore grateful.

"Hey hone." She sat Johnny down. Her husband was standing in the hallway, the spitting image of his father. She owed many things to that day, many happy things. But she never stopped morning for the boy who surcome to the ember and ash, her saint, her hero. He had given her more then he could ever know.


End file.
